Our journey through trying to conceive


This week we hit a pretty big milestone. I'm 14 weeks and officially in my second trimester. Our journey to get to this pregnancy was a fairly long one.  If you've been reading my blog for a while you might have seen my post last fall about my ectopic "unknown location" miscarriage. I don't want to go back into all that happened then, but if you are interested in reading about our experience you can find it by clicking here. Other than that one post, I haven't really shared much of our struggle to get pregnant. It's something that I have often found difficult to talk about because it has been such an emotional thing for me. Mark and I both grew up knowing that we wanted children, multiple children. In fact when I was younger, probably close to Amelia's age, I would say I wanted 88 kids. Mark and I got married when Amelia was 2&1/2, but prior to saying "I do" we had what I consider to be the most important discussion we've ever had... how big we wanted our family to be. I've heard of couples separating because there wasn't a clear understanding of what one another wanted. For me, the fact that I knew from such a young age that I wanted a big family, not having more kids would have been a deal breaker. I said I wanted four children, Mark said at least two... we agreed that we would have three kids, and any more beyond that would be decided based on where we were in life. I have to say I am so thankful we had that talk.

Fast forward to the decision to start trying for a baby. There was some concern that the timing wasn't perfect, but really... is the timing ever perfect? We had many long talks and eventually agreed that we were ready for another baby. Amelia was getting older and we really wanted her to have a sibling. In November 2013 I went in to have the good ol' Paragard IUD removed. Since that IUD doesn't have hormones I was told that we could get pregnant as early as that month. I was both nervous and excited, but never imagined it would be such a long journey. Each new month that came brought hope that it would be the lucky one. My cycle was slightly irregular so we had months where we were sure it had happened, but were always disappointed. I had started to lose hope when we got a positive in July of 2014. Unfortunately we lost that baby at around 6 weeks. That whole experience lasted from July through September. The doctor said we needed to take the month of October off from trying, but could start again after that... so we did.

As the months went by I started to lose hope. People would say things that just brought me down even further. "When are you going to have another baby" "Amelia is getting pretty old, don't you think it's time you give her a sibling" "Come on, have another baby already". Most of the people making such comments knew about our loss and still thought it was okay to say such things. I stopped buying pregnancy tests even when my cycle was late. I was done being disappointed.

In April Mark and I decided that we would start the process of fertility testing. I just needed to know if there was something medically wrong that was preventing us from having another baby. I went to my gynecologist and Mark went to the andrology clinic. The only thing that was found was that my progesterone level was a little lower than it should be for my age. That could have contributed to our loss last summer. My doctor put me on a low dose of progesterone and told me to take it until we got pregnant, and then continue until 12 weeks. She said if I was still unable to get pregnant after a couple of months we could look into fertility treatments. Since fertility testing and treatments aren't covered by our insurance I was really hoping that resolving my low hormone level would be the solution. I prayed every single night.

In May I decided to start a strict paleo diet. I lost 25 pounds in that month alone. I didn't know at the time, but paleo is considered by some to be the "fertility diet". I started paleo in hopes of eliminating my daily headaches and had planned to continue with it indefinitely. The morning of May 26th I woke up and just had a feeling that I needed to take a pregnancy test. I was still a week out from my period, but I couldn't shake the feeling. I threw on some shoes and headed to the store. The two lines showed up right away. I was pregnant.

early ultrasound for high risk
Because of the ectopic pregnancy I was considered high risk and had to go in to have my hcg levels checked every 48 hours until they reached a point where we could do an ultrasound. This is something we will have to do with all pregnancies we have from this point on. It's a stressful situation, but it was nice to see that number going up as it should every two days. I was so incredibly nervous going to our ultrasound. What a relief it was to see our little baby and that sweet heartbeat on the screen at 7 weeks. It was definitely a moment that brought tears to my eyes. We tried to conceive for 19 months, which to me felt like an eternity. I feel so blessed that we were able to get pregnant without having to go through fertility treatments. I know so many couples aren't as fortunate and my heart goes out to them. I have prayed so hard for this baby for so long and words can't describe how thankful I am that we are having another child. I'm not sure if it was the progesterone, the change in diet or a mixture of both, but I do know that God answered my prayers and my family and I are so lucky.

Ashley Elizabeth
4 Comments

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on hitting this milestone! It's exciting to be at this point. Sorry for the long road it took to get here and for people's insensitive comments, but I'm happy to see you getting to celebrate this big step. Your new little one is lucky to have such a great family.

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  2. Why do people feel the need to ask such personal questions like that? None of their darn business! But big congrats again!

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  3. An amazing testimony on a sorceress who help me to get pregnant, So me and my partner have been trying for a baby for the last 2 years now. I don’t have a regular cycle so it is hard for me to tell when I’m ovulating or not, but we always have sex at least 3 times a week, sometimes more. I know it can take up to a year to conceive but everyone i know who have had a baby have conceived within 2-3months of trying and it is really getting to me. my partner had a fertility test about a year ago and his sperm were fine. I’m thinking it could be a problem with me but I’ve never had any symptoms of any problems. My partner does smoke and have the occasional drink, and i used to smoke and also have the occasional drink. i know i’m slightly overweight but that shouldn’t affect our chances too much, one faithful day my friend told me to contact a Sorceress that help her sister, then i contact the woman on her email. after three months the doctor confirm that i am pregnant thank you Sorceress mama jaja for helping me get a baby, I am thankful for all she had done. contact her via email: (mamajajasorceress@yahoo.com), if you are trying to get a baby. she has powers to do it.

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  4. Well first of all Congratulations and this is something very good news for you guys. The post is really very good and I wish you good luck for rest of your journey. Enjoy this new experience.

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